My Review of Partials by Dan Wells
My summary: Eleven years after a virus wipes out 99.9% of the human population, there have been no babies that live more than a few days. A females over 18 must have babies as often as they are able, in the hopes that one will be born immune to the virus. All while the Partials, super-human soldiers who released the virus in the first place, loom over them as an ever present threat.
Why I picked up this book: Been listening to Dan Wells on Writing Excuses forever, and got to know him better while I was on the Writing Excuses Cruise, so I figured I would read another of his books.
What I knew going in: The Partials Sequence was fairly popular.
My response: Not the first time I’ve been late to something because I was reading, but the first time in a long while. This book took a while to get going, but as soon as Kira, the main character, decides she needs to try and capture a Partial, I was loathe to put the book down. The world seemed entirely realistic, if not terrifying, and there were even very good answers to the questions of why a teenager is given so much responsibility, and why she can figure out things that no one else was able to in eleven years.
In addition, I found that in being on a boat with Dan Wells for a week indoctrinated me to his personalty enough that I kept hearing him in the words I was reading. First time I’ve interacted with a professional author enough for that to happen. (I look forward to reading another of Mary Robinette and Howard’s stories to see if the same thing happens with them.)
Do I recommend this book?: Yes. Even though post-apocalypse is not really my jam, I liked the characters and the story was rock solid.
